


Andrew and Neil's first playdate

by Kami_cullen



Series: Growing up with you <3 [1]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Best Friends, Comfort, Fluff, Kid Fic, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Play Date, little Andrew, little Neil
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2021-01-08 04:49:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21230072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kami_cullen/pseuds/Kami_cullen
Summary: Andrew is 6 and has been living with Bee and Phil for a year, this afternoon his friend Neil and his new parents (Abby and David) are coming to his house for a play date. This is the first part of a series where we'll see the boys grow up being best friends and being there for each other <3





	Andrew and Neil's first playdate

**Author's Note:**

> Hello from Ecuador!! :D I'm back with a new really short series!, English is not my first language so please let me know if there are any mistakes or typos!!

Today Andrew was going to see Neil after a long time. He had met him at a recreational center where Phil volunteered once a week, it was a place where kids could go to play sports of all kinds.

He had been living with Phil and Bee for fourteen months (the longest he had ever lived in the same place in his six years of life) and he really liked it. They were kind to him even when he was bad, in the other homes he had been, they always told him that he was a “problem child” but to this day neither Phil nor Bee had hit him or punched him or made him go to bed without dinner when he misbehaved. Andrew really wanted to stay with them as long as he could.

Phil was a police officer and Bee was a psychiatrist. In the past Andrew had met a few police officers and they were all scary but Phil was not, he read a new story to Andrew every night before bed, he cooked really nice meals, he liked cars just like Andrew, he was always hugging Bee from behind and sometimes, when Andrew was scared, he would hug him too.

Every weekend Phil would take Andrew to the recreational center. He didn’t have any friends but he would always play with Nathaniel. Nathaniel was the fastest five year old Andrew had ever seen so they always played ‘tag’. Andrew liked Nathaniel because he was quiet like him and because he had never met someone with red hair before.

One day Neil (He liked to be called that) didn’t want to play with Andrew and when Andrew had asked what was wrong he started crying non stop and showed him a horrible burn in his shoulder that had the shape of a clothing iron. Andrew didn’t know what to do but then he remembered that Phil had told him that if someone was ever violent to him he should tell him and he would protect him and Andrew believed him so he took Neil to Phil knowing that he would help.

Neil had been incredibly scared of Phil and had refuse to show him his burn so they had taken him to Abby, she was Bee’s best friend and also a nurse, Abby had taken one look at him, she assured him that everything was going to be fine and and that she would protect him and like sometimes adults said: the rest was history.

Now Abby and David had been Niel’s parents for about three months wich made Andrew and Neil something like family because Niel’s new parents were best friends with Bee and Phil, so far Andrew had seen Neil a handful of times out side the recreational center but today was the first time that he was coming to his house and Andrew was really excited to show Neil all his cars and his books.

When the bell rang Andrew rushed to the door but didn’t open it, he waited for Phil to see that it was really them before opening it. He expected to see Neil right away but instead he saw Uncle David, he frowned.

“Where is Neil?”  
“Andrew, say hello to David first” Phill said ruffling his hair  
“Hello. Where is Neil?” Both adults chuckled  
“Hello Dave, as you can tell Andrew has been really looking forward to his playdate with Neil” Uncle David face fell and Andrew got worried he wanted to grab Phil’s hand but he wasn’t a baby so he didn’t  
“Oh Andrew, he is asleep right now” Just as he was speaking Abby came to the door carrying Neil who had his head on her shoulder, he was sucking on his thumb and was wearing an orange fox onesie  
“Hello Andrew” She said with a tired smile Andrew didn’t answer, just looked pointedly at Neil.

He didn’t say anything else while the adults greeted each other. They all went to the living room and Abby sat carefully on the couch in a way that allowed Neil to kind of lay on her chest. Andrew sat next to Bee and felt a little disappointed. Bee put her arm around his shoulders and he leaned on her, he had a couple of Hot Wheals in his pockets so he pulled them out and was playing absentmindedly with them until something that Abby was saying got his attention.

“I knew it was going to be hard but it’s just heartbreaking, I don’t think any of us has slept for an entire night in the last three months. He hasn’t said a word for almost two weeks now but he’s been waking up in the middle of the night screaming this entire week and it just breaks my heart. I wish I could take all his trauma and pain away, I just want my baby to be happy”

“I know it seems imposible at the beginning but you guys are doing everything you can, you are moving forward even if it doesn’t seem like it, it’s a slow process”

“I know” Said Abby whipping her tears “Today was just a particularly rough day, we almost didn’t make it here”

“Why?, What happened?” Phil asked

“We were on our way here when a freaking deer came out of nowhere so I had to hit the breaks and make a sudden stop and that really freaked Neil out” Answered David, Abby continued

“He started crying so quietly that we didn’t realize at first but then I noticed that his breathing sounded off so I checked on him and he was having a full blown panic attack, he was so scared that he peed himself, so we had to stop in the middle of the road to try and calmed him and to change him” She stopped talking and put a hand over his mouth. Andrew took Bee’s hand, he was feeling a little restless.

“For some miracle, the fox onesie was on the back of the car so we had something to put him on and then Abby carried him, because he won’t let me carry him, and walked on the side of the road for like 20 minutes until he calmed down and fall asleep, luckily he didn’t wake up when we put him on the car sit or when we took him out” David finished

“He’s wearing a three year old onesie and it fits him perfectly, he’s just so tiny” Abby said and her voice broke “It brakes my heart and at the same time it makes me furious that my little baby was neglected for so long”

‘Ne-glec-ted’, ‘neglected', Andrew repeated in his head, he didn’t know the meaning of that word but he was going to look it up in the dictionary later, Bee had said that even though he was a little behind in his school work, he was a really fast learner. The week before they were sounding letters and now Andrew could read pretty well, he didn’t really talk that much but he liked learning new words and reading new stories.

The adults keep talking for a while and Andrew started to get bored.

He wanted to show Neil his new book but he was still asleep sucking on his finger. Andrew scooched a little closer to Bee and placed his hand on her forearm and she placed her hand on top of his. With the gesture he meant ‘I want to tell you something’, and with hers she meant ‘I will give you my full attention in just a moment’.

She had taught him to do that when she found out that he never interrupted any adults when they were talking (because in the past it never did him any good) and one time he had preferred to endure an awful bellyache instead of interrupting Bee to tell her he wasn’t feeling well and had ended up throwing up on his own feet in the middle of a mall while Bee was talking to one her patients.

She had told him that sometimes it was okay to interrupt and that sometimes it could be rude but Andrew wasn’t going to take the risk so Bee taught him a way to call her attention without interrupting.

Right now she was looking at him and she was smiling, Andrew really liked that  
“I want to show Neil my new book, when is he going to wake up?”  
“I don’t know Drew, He wasn’t feeling so well this morning so he needs all the rest he can get but if you like to you can show aunty Abby your new book, she hasn’t heard you read yet” he looked shyly at Abby not letting go of Bee’s arm. She smiled warmly while rubbing Neil’s back  
“You are reading already?!, Andrew, that’s so impressive! I would love to hear you read” he thought about it for a second but he didn’t feel entirely confortable so he shook his head and looked down sadly. He didn’t want to disappoint Bee.  
“It’s okay if you don’t want to Drew, maybe next time” she said with warm in her voice  
“Can I show Abby my book with out reading to her?”  
“Sure honey, go get it” Andrew ran to his room, grabbed his brand new copy of ‘The Little Prince’ and ran back to the living-room but then stoped short because he didn’t want to wake up Neil so he quietly walked over to Abby and sat next to her on the side that she was holding Neil  
“Look, Phil got it for me last week after I ate my vegetables for an entire month”  
“Wow, that’s a lot of time” Said Abby with a soft smile  
“It’s a special edition because it has activities and you can color the… the illustrations” Andrew had been learning a lot of big words in the last few weeks “I can quote my entire favorite chapter” he added proudly, Abby gave him a weird look and then looked at Bee, Andrew got a little worried, did he say something he shouldn’t have?  
“Oh yeah, lately we’ve been discovering just how good Andrew’s memory is” Said Bee and she sounded happy but also something that Andrew couldn’t identify.

He was going to go back to sit next to Bee but Neil started to blink slowly, at first he seemed confused and started to whine but the he spotted Andrew and smiled around the finger that he was still sucking  
“Drew” he said sleepily and Abby seemed startled, she helped Neil sit on her lap and kissed his head  
“I got a new book that has a fox in it, do you wanna see?”  
“Yes, foxes are my favorite” Neil said and Andrew thought that the way Neil pronounced the ‘S’ was a kind of funny, Bee had said that Neil had a ‘little lisp’ and the thought made him smile just a little  
“Let’s go to my room I have cars that we can play with”  
“Neil” Said Abby calling his attention “We are at aunty Betsy’s house, we should say hello before you go to play with Andrew” at her words Neil stilled and put his finger back at his mouth, Andrew saw aunt Abby tensed  
“Hello Betsy” Neil said really softly around his finger, like he was afraid. Andrew wanted to tell him that Bee wasn’t scary or mean but he didn’t trust most adults either so he figured his friend just needed some time to trust her like he had.

Andrew offered him his hand and Neil perked up, he took it gladly and they both ran off to Andrew’s room. He picked his favorite cars and trucks and spread them on the floor, Neil carefully took one

“I like this one” he said softly  
“that’s a Monster Truck. Look, it roars” Andrew said proudly and pressed a little button, the truck roared and Neil giggled so Andrew pressed again, Neil giggled harder.

Andrew took his favorite car and showed it to Neil  
“This a Jaguar, like the animal, it’s really really fast”  
“Does it roar?” Andrew laughed  
“Nooo!”  
“Then I like the truck better, and besides, jaguars do roar!”  
“Race you!” Andrew announced and started running, Neil followed him roaring and laughing, he was really fast.

They played with cars and trucks for almost an hour, Phil had taught him how to read the time and had put a blue wall clock on his bedroom so Andrew knew.

“Can you show me your book now?” Neil asked a little bit out of breath, they had ran and laughed so much “the one with the fox in it”

They were sitting on the floor with their backs resting on the bed, Andrew opened the book on the page with the illustration of the fox

“The fox is the Little Prince’s friend, look, it says so right here”  
“I don’t know how to read”  
“It’s okay, I can read for you, I learned how to last week” So Andrew read about the fox and the little Prince and how the Little Prince tamed the fox and they became friends and how you can only see the essential with your heart. When Andrew finished Neil looked a bit sad  
“I never had a friend” he said shyly  
“Me neither, but we are friends, right?” Neil instantly perked up  
“We are?, does that mean I get to be your fox?, because I have red hair like the fox and a fox onesie and you have blond hair like The Little Prince” Andrew really liked the idea of having a real friend and Neil did have red hair like a fox, suddenly Andrew had another great idea, he got up and picked something up from his dresser  
“I’m gonna lend you something” Said Andrew and gave Neil his fox plushie, Neil looked at it with wonder for a second and then hugged it tightly “You can take it home if you want to, someone has to take care of it and since now you are my best friend that’s your job”

Most of the time Andrew wasn’t really good at sharing because in his other foster homes he didn’t have many things so he fiercely protected how little was his but now he had been living with Bee and Phil for over a year and he had many many things, he had a really nice bed in the shape of a race car, he had lots of toy cars and trucks, he had tons of new books, he had his own room with a blue clock and now he had a best friend so it was only fair that he shared, right?

“I’m your best friend?” Neil asked wide eyed  
“yeah, so, will you take the fox?” Neil, that was still hugging the plushie held it a little bit tighter  
“Yes, Drew, I will”

Someone sniffed loudly making them both jump but it was only Abby standing in the doorway, she had tears in her eyes but they looked like happy tears, Bee cried happy tears a lot too.

“It’s dinner time boys” She said softly. Before she became Neil’s mom she used to be louder but Neil didn’t like it when adults were loud so now Abby spoke softly all the time.  
When Neil looked up, he froze  
“Why are you crying Abby?” He asked alarmed  
“Those are happy tears Neil, don’t worry” He seemed very confused and still worried, so Andrew explained “You know how you cry when you are sad or when you get hurt or when someone is mean to you, those are bad tears but Bee told me that sometimes when you are really happy you also cry but those are good tears. You just have to learn how to tell them apart” Neil seemed to think about it for a moment  
“So you are not sad?” He asked suspiciously  
“No baby, It makes me really really happy that you guys have each other. Now come on, dinner is ready”

They both went to the dinner table, Neil still clutching the little fox.

After they ate, the adults let them watch a movie but just after the beginning Neil’s eyers started to drop

“Bee?” Andrew said softly after Neil closes his eyes and didn’t open them again, slouched over with his head on Andrew's shoulder “I’m tired” His voice called the attention of all the adults

“Oh honey, did Neil fell sleep?” Abby said “That’s okay, you can keep watching the movie if you want to”

Andrew shook his head, he didn’t want Neil to miss it. The movie was good but he could wait until another time. Stopping the movie meant that it was time for Neil to go home, when Abby lifted him he stirred and began to whine, Abby rubbed his back but his lip started to quiver, hi didn’t say anything but his eyes moved rapidly around the room, as the adults said their goodbyes Neil began to cry softly without saying a word. Andrew didn’t like it but he didn’t know what to do to help him.

When David said goodbye to Andrew he didn’t respond. He didn’t want to say goodbye, he wanted Neil to stop crying, and just when they were reaching the door Andrew remembered something, he ran to the living room and back in no time

“Wait!” He said a little breathless “Neil forgot the fox!” Neil that had his face hidden in Abby’s neck looked up so fast that he almost hit his mom’s head and made grabby hands, Andrew handed him the plushy fox, Neil hugged it tightly and finally, finally he smiled and happily placed his head on aunt’s Abby shoulder

“Bye Niel” Andrew said  
“Bye Drew” Neil responded just before he started sucking on his thumb

Phil closed the door and lifted Andrew over his shoulder making him gasp and laugh, when other adults lifted him like that in the past it was always to hit him but Phil had never hit him or dropped him before so even though he was the tiniest bit scared he really enjoy it when Phil played with him like that, he carried Andrew that way all the way up stairs and into his room where he placed him on his bed, Andrew was still laughing when he realized that Phil’s eyes where glowing a bit

“Are those happy tears?” He asked a little concerned, in his other foster homes the big kids would always tell him that he was a cry baby o a little girl whenever he cried so he rarely did, but there Phil cried a lot more than Bee and nobody ever made fun of him and they both have told Andrew that it was okay to cry if you felt like it, either from sadness or happiness

“Yes buddy, you know I’m really proud of you right?”  
“I don’t know what proud means” Andrew had never heard that word before  
“Uh, well, it means that… it means that I’m really happy because of who you are and who you are growing up to be” Andrew wasn’t sure he understood “You know what, it doesn’t matter, someday after I had said it many many times it will make sense, right now lets get you ready for bed”

That night when Andrew went to bed, he thought about Neil in his own bed hugging his new fox and how they had played a that afternoon, Andrew was happy that Neil’s new mom was aunt Abby and he was happy in his own home, before he fall sleep he wished with everything he had that he could stay with Bee and Phil forever.

**Author's Note:**

> English is not my first language so please let me know if there are any mistakes or typos!! , please leave a comment if you like it or just have something to say! , let's be friends!, lots of love from Ecuador!


End file.
